Walker & Co make clear: Wisconsin is officially for sale

Protestors outside the state capitol in the spring of 2011 warn Wisconsin of Scott Walker's agenda. Photo by Barbara Miner

Wisconsin — from its rivers and lakes to its power plants and legislators — is officially for sale.

Unless you’ve been asleep the last month, it’s well documented how Republican legislators are willing to sacrifice the state’s natural resources in order to please private mining interests.

Today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s front page, meanwhile, shows how far Walker & Co are willing to go to sell out the common good to corporate interests.

The lead story: Walker wants to sell “hundreds of millions of dollars in power plants or other state assets.”

An article in the lower right-hand corner: Assembly Republicans can now solicit campaign contributions at the very time they are voting on the state’s $65 billion budget. They might just as well have said: “Buy my vote!"

Barbara Miner is an award-winning journalist and photographer. With more than 30 years' experience, she is a former reporter at United Press International and the Milwaukee Journal, and former managing editor at Rethinking Schools. She has written for media ranging from The New York Times to the Nation. She is the author of newly published book "Lessons from the Heartland: A Turbulent Half-Century of Public Education in an Iconic American City" (New Press: January, 2013).